While it does include limited blocking of Web sites, PC Pandora's real purpose is comprehensive activity monitoring. Parents can view everything their kids do on the computer; employers can likewise monitor employees. It's a powerful tool that can be used for good or evil.

Continuous Scrutiny
By pressing the secret key combination and entering a password, you reveal PC Pandora's log viewer. The viewer's numerous pages offer different views covering every little action on the monitored computer. One page shows every Web site visited using Internet Explorer (Free, ), Firefox (Free, ), or Chrome (Free, ), identifying the user, the date/time, and the browser involved. A separate "Web requests" page lists all HTTP requests regardless of the program that made themthis catches surfing in off-brand browsers and in non-browser programs that connect to the Web. The right-click menu in these two pages lets you add any site to the custom blacklist.

Another page records all search terms entered at several popular search sites. Each of these pages presents the most-used items in a pie chart at the top. Similar to Spector Pro's "Top 10" lists, this chart helps tame the overwhelming complete list. I prefer a pared-down report like that found in OnlineFamily.Norton, which summarizes sites intentionally visited while ignoring advertisements and other tangential URLs. Still, I have to give PC Pandora credit for thorough logging.

PC Pandora records all instant messaging conversations via AIM, Facebook (Free, ), ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk, MSN Mesenger, MySpace IM, and Yahoo!. It can also block any of these services except Facebook at the protocol levelthe IM client will launch but just won't connect. Spector Pro has a similar feature and also includes translation for common IM abbreviations that parents might not understand.

Even if your child converses using in-game chat or an unsupported IM tool, you can still view all or most of the conversation. The keystroke log captures everything that was typed, so you can definitely see all outgoing messages. Incoming text shows up in the periodic screen snapshots. PC Pandora can even photograph the user at intervals, if a webcam is available.

Like Spector Pro, PC Pandora includes the ability to block specified programs from running. You could theoretically prevent your child from using an unsupported IM tool by adding it to the block list, but don't bother. Both products are easily fooled by using a renamed copy of the blocked program.

E-mail is also subject to monitoring. PC Pandora records all inbound and outbound messages for Windows e-mail clients like Outlook and Outlook Express, though it can't capture encrypted mail. It can also log Yahoo! mail; for other Web-based e-mail types you can check the logged keystrokes and snapshots.

PC Pandora also tracks files created, copied, or moved; documents sent to the printer; and peer-to-peer download activity. It even records what programs and users are sucking up the most bandwidth on your Internet connection. Almost nothing escapes its all-seeing eye.Next: Reporting and Configuration

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Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips...
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